The Shadow Blade Monk: D&D Build #151

Today I combine a couple of things I've been wanting to play with on a Monk - 1: Armor, and 2: Shadow Blade. The results are surprisingly effective :).

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Intro 0:00
World Anvil 6:36
Level 1 9:20
Level 2-6 13:28
Level 7-9 24:54
Level 10-13 39:04
Level 14-17 42:54
Final Thoughts 50:24
Outtakes 53:44

Master Sustained Damage Comparison (6 tabs):

Music Credits:

[DnDDeepDive]

Just FYI: I recorded this *before* my latest "Ranking My Builds" video from last week, so when I talk about "Tier 2, Tier 3, " etc., it's going to be slightly off because at the time there were only 4 tiers, and now there are 5 :).

[delihogg]

You have no idea how much I appreciate the subtitles on these videos as a person who speaks English as their second language! It helps so much to keep up with the conversation! Thanks for the extra effort 🙏

[mistahanansi]

I always feel like a rival professor taking notes at a lecture hall whenever I watch Colby's videos... I end up saying things like "He cracked the formula I'd been stuck on for weeks!" and "Of course, I failed to take the [Shadow Blade] spell into consideration, no wonder the equation always seemed incomplete..."

[ryszb]

There is one other, easy way to make 3 attacks/round with a Shadow Bade: level 11 Eldritch Knight.
Downside: you get the third attack with the Shadow Blade 2 levels later.
Upside: you get the Shadow Blade 2 levels earlier.

[GORtheBULL]

Omg, I played in a game where my DM gave me, a Shadow Monk, a feature that allowed me to cast Shadow Blade the same way you could cast the spells that came with the subclass and it was such a blast!

[BLynn]

The Shadow Blade Monk: D&D Build #151
Level 1:(see above) [monk 1 & race]
Level 2:(see above) [monk 2]
Level 7:(see above) [warlock 1 & patron]
Level 10:(see above) [warlock 4 & ASI]
Level 13:(see above Level 14-17) [monk 8 & ASI]

[storiesunder]

You know, I never even thought of monks as something I'd like to play. But after watching what must be over a hundred hours of your stuff I think you may be winning me over.

[tommasomichetti]

It's incredible how the pacing and rhythm of these videos have improved over time, my most sincere compliments. As simple as these videos are, you have to recognize your talent in knowing how to entertain and present your topics. Now that I have your attention, please: 3.5

[akn]

I love the new “damage report” screen! That’s super cool!

[DrunkenDonuts_]

Hey Colby! Since your playing around with the editing and stuff, I was thinking it might be a cool thing to do to edit dice into your damage reports that pop up whenever you are listing all the damage roll stacks. Or maybe just the numbers. I think it’d be a good touch, especially for smooth brains who enjoy cool visuals like me😂

[olorin]

I think quickened healing has great value specifically as a nice way to dump any remaining ki points into health right before a short rest.

[sylvysforever]

As soon as you started talking about Shadow blade and ki fueled attack I could feel Kensei coming and, YES, I love kensei. It's so fun to play.

[kurtderpinheimer]

This may be my favorite build you've made so far. Warlock and Monk are my first and second favorite classes. Never thought a great multi class with them would be possible. And the flavor is fantastic! Thank you!

[Rakkun_Streak]

Great video! I know the idea of this video is to put an Armor on Monks, so im not going to knock it off that much, but i would pretty much just prefer to go Mage Armor + Dexterity + Mirror Image for my Armor Class.

It leaves a hand free for a posible Shield Reaction if i REALLY NEED to avoid a hit.

This builds a possible avenue for two modes of Attack:

This Entire Build, Three Attacks with Shadow Blade at posible advantage, single target damage and sure fire way to hit.


However, against Enemies resistant to Psychic Damage, you have a Hex (or Hexblade's Curse to conserve Spell Slots) + 4 Unarmed Attacks (D6 o D8 depending on your level).

Also, obligatory mention that adding 2 Levels of Fighter means Action Surge, since after Monk (13) and Warlock (5) you have two free Levels that offer stuff you could live without.

[gravzi]

Hope we get to see a build with the UA 8 monk soon!

[PRINCEofNONE]

Woah. An elf I’m excited to try. Kinda feels like this character has two “modes.” The typical, blade of my fore fathers, armored version vs the “oh no, you caught me by surprise and I don’t have my armor on. What ever will I do?” 😈

[mattdahm]

Thanks Colby! I love monk builds- can’t wait for 5.5 for all the new possibilities for multiclassing them

[Blackwoodcwc]

For the PYF invocation, I recommend also considering Gift of the Everliving Ones since this is a chain warlock. While it doesn't increase your offense, it can be nice to have all healing on you be maximized.

[Guyoverthere]

While I do love the unique marriage between Shadow Blade and Sharpen the Blade...it does feel like an arranged marriage. After Monk 8, we can skip a dead level and go straight into Fighter for the Dueling Fighting style. That's +2 damage on all our attacks right there. Sharpen the Blade is a steep Bonus Action setup. It's a significant amount of Ki to use. So it's kind of like the same amount of Ki if we multiclass out at this point. It's also overkill on the attack modifier. So Dueling is nearly as strong, and we can can just keep going to Action Surge and Battle Master.

Dueling and Maneuvers with a maximized DC will add a lot more damage + utility per short rest than Sharpen the Blade can hope to. Even at very high ACs since Triple Advantage and still a huge modifier is putting in serious work.

[cmccbuilds]

As seen in Ludic's run of the Gauntlet, Focused Aim was the low key MVP. Super underrated ability, especially if you've figured out enemy ACs and at higher levels.